[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8291-S8292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS AT DEFICIT REDUCTION

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I did not intend to come on over to the 
floor, but I wanted to respond to some of the comments I heard being 
made about the President's brief remarks this evening on national 
television and the majority leader's remarks which followed the 
President's comments, the distinguished Senator from Kansas, Senator 
Dole.
  I know it is not typical at this kind of a moment to want to commend, 
I suppose, the leadership, but I want to do so. I thought the President 
gave a very fine speech this evening, and I want to commend the 
majority leader for his remarks.
  One thing that is clear to me is that people in this country would 
like to see the people in this town put aside the partisan bickering 
and try to come up with some answers to a problem that has been growing 
over the last 15 or 16 years.
  This President arrived in this town 30 months ago, having served as 
the Governor of a State, not unlike the Presiding Officer tonight in 
the Senate, and was not a party to the events which unfolded beginning 
in early 1980.
  I noted earlier that this President for 30 months now has made a 
significant effort, and a successful one, in deficit reduction. For the 
first time in many, many years, going back to the Truman 
administration, we have now had 3 years of significant deficit 
reduction, $600 billion. We still have a long way to go to achieve that 
goal.
  I looked at the candidates running for the Presidency, the announced 
candidates, and I am looking at 100 years collectively of experience in 
this town. Some go back to 1960; many go back to the 1970's. They were 
here as this mountain of debt was accumulated. So to point an accusing 
finger at this President as if somehow it was his fault for what has 
happened over the last 15 or 16 years I think is unfair.
  Mr. President, the point is this: We can go through this process over 
the next 7 or 8 weeks or months and score our political points one on 
the other, and maybe one party or the other will prevail in the 
elections of November 1996, but if at the end of all of that we have 
not really done what the American public has asked us to do, then one 
party or one candidate or another may be successful, but the country 
will be that much worse off 9 or 10 months from tonight.
  So I rise to commend the President for offering a proposal, laying 
one on the table which is different than what was passed in the House 
and the Senate, but does lay out some options for us to consider;
 hopefully, for some common ground to come around the issue of how we 
reduce this deficit and do so in a balanced and fair way so that the 
country moves forward.

  Deficit reduction is a critically important issue. But the wealth of 
this Nation is not merely tied to just deficit reduction. It is also 
the investments we make. It is also the pace at which we achieve that 
deficit reduction.
  Who pays in the process for trying to achieve that goal? The 
President this evening laid out a 10-year proposal rather than a 7-year 
proposal. He offers to cut Medicare by one-third the cuts that have 
been proposed by the budget that was adopted in this body and the 
other. He does so by suggesting that those cuts could come not from the 
beneficiaries but from providers and others.
  I have my concerns about it, but I see it as a more moderate proposal 
as we try and beef up and shore up the Medicare trust fund.
  The President has offered a tax cut. I, frankly, would not have any 
tax cuts over the next several years. I think, frankly, deficit 
reduction is a far more important goal. Incorporating the tax cuts in 
that mix, I think, is unwise.
  But the President's tax cut proposal is some $66 billion over 7 
years, rather than something between $250 and $300 billion over the 
same period. His tax cuts go toward middle-income people in this 
country, particularly those with children and those who have children 
of college age, to try and defer, or at least lessen some of those 
costs.
  The President also suggests that we can do this, achieve this 
balanced budget, in 10 years, by cutting some 20 percent out of the 
existing programs. That, I am sure, will be a tremendous battle here 
over the coming months.
  However, he has put a proposal on the table. He has extended the 
hand. He is not a Member of Congress. He is not the head of the 
political party. He is not a Governor. He is the President of our 
country. He will be so until January 20, 1997, if he is not reelected.
  The President is leading. He is offering all--Republicans and 
Democrats in this body--an opportunity to put aside that bickering, to 
put aside that name-calling, and to come to the table and deal with 
America's problems. [[Page S8292]] 
  People in this country do not wake up in the morning thinking of 
themselves as Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals. They 
get up in the morning and think of themselves in terms of the problems 
they face--their jobs, their kids' education, their health care. Those 
are things that most Americans worry about--not the process in 
Washington.
  They would like to see those Members elected to office to try and put 
aside some of that political campaign rhetoric, at least for a time, 
and wrestle with their problem.
  The President has put an offer on the table, and Bob Dole, to his 
credit, I think, has extended up to that offer, and has suggested that 
we might come together here and work out these differences.
  I think the country was well served by both comments tonight, by the 
President's speech and by the majority leader's response.
  I think all in this body have an opportunity now to reach that 
judgment of history and to step forward and try to solve this problem.
  Stop pointing the fingers. Stop the accusing and name calling. Let 
Members go to work on the problems that we will all be judged, 
historically, as to whether or not we have the courage to meet the 
challenge.
  I thank Members for the opportunity to share these few short 
comments.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent we vitiate the 
previous order for the Senate to be in recess.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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